Definition

Percentage of adolescents (students in grades 9-12) who reported binge drinking (consumption of 5 or more alcoholic drinks
within a couple of hours) on at least one occasion in the past 30 days.

Numerator

Number of adolescents (students in grades 9-12) who responded one or more days to the question: "During the past 30 days,
on how many days did you have 5 or more drinks of alcohol in a row, that is, within a couple of hours?"

Denominator

Number of adolescents (students in grades 9-12) with complete and valid responses for the question.

Why Is This Important?

Alcohol and substance abuse have a devastating impact on individuals, families and entire communities across Alaska. The effects
of alcohol and other drug abuse include unintentional and intentional injuries, violence, high-risk sexual behaviors, cirrhosis,
and alcohol poisoning. Alaska experiences a disparately high rate of alcohol induced mortality compared to the U.S. Alcohol
and other drug use is common among adolescents and is a strong predictor of dependence in later life.

Healthy People Objective SA-14.4:

How Do We Compare With U.S.?

For all years reported, the percentage of high school students who reported binge drinking in the past 30 days was lower in
Alaska than in the U.S. overall. In 2011, the most recent year with U.S. data, this percentage was 16.5% in Alaska and 21.9%
in the U.S.

Evidence-based Practices

As part of the Healthy Alaskans 2020 health improvement process, groups of Alaskan subject matter experts met over a period
of months in a rigorous review process to identify and prioritize strategies to address the 25 health priorities. Public health
partners around the state are aligning work around these approaches adapted to Alaska's unique needs. Below are the strategies
identified for enhancing adolescent support systems.

Strategy 1:Provide the Prime for Life curriculum for alternative high school students, Job Corps participants, and youth caught with
alcohol or any illegal substance.

Evidence Base: The Prime For Life curriculum was developed by the Prevention Research Institute in Kentucky and has been widely tested throughout
the United States and in Sweden. Providing practical and useful information, this research-based program leads the student
through a process of self-evaluation and reflection upon his or her own personal decisions around alcohol and other drug use.

Strategy 2:Use the Positive Community Norms approach in a media campaign to promote attitude and behavior change around alcohol use among
teens and young adults. The campaign will focus on evidence-based environmental prevention strategies to change social norms
regarding youth alcohol. This approach maximizes communication, outcomes, and economic use of resources, while reducing duplicate
and ineffective approaches.

Evidence Base:Based on several extensively researched theories in psychology and health education, the Positive Community Norms (PCN) framework
can be used to improve health and safety by increasing positive norms within communities.

Strategy 3:Increase the social and emotion skills in children of all ages through institutionalizing formal learning standards and implementing
curricula for social emotional learning.

Evidence Base: Social and emotional learning programs have been implemented in various settings. These programs have been shown to decrease
aggression and hostility, increase academic achievement, and improve relationships with peers and adults.

Data Notes

Healthy Alaskans 2020 Target: 17.0%

** Data Not Available. Traditional high schools are public high schools that are distinct from correspondence schools, alternative
high schools, which serve students at risk of not graduating, and students enrolled in high school in correctional facilities.
Healthy Alaskans 2020 goals were established using results from traditional high school students.

Data Sources

Alaska Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, Division of Public Health,
Section of Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, School Health and YRBS Program

The information provided above is from the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services' Center for
Health Data and Statistics, Alaska Indicator-Based Information System for Public Health (Ak-IBIS) web site (http://ibis.dhss.alaska.gov).
The information published
on this website may be reproduced without permission. Please use the following citation:
"Retrieved
Tue, 31 March 2015 13:58:28
from Alaska Department of
Health and Social Services, Center for Health Data and Statistics, Alaska Indicator-Based Information System for Public
Health web
site: http://ibis.dhss.alaska.gov".